- You know, there's nothing like a good stretch to make you feel awake and ready for the day.

I'm Cassy, and this is Quick Fit , your place to stretch and strengthen so you can live better, longer.

We'll also be doing large body movements today to get that blood moving and clear out the cobwebs.

So let's get moving.

[upbeat music] For today's class, I'd like you to have a sturdy chair on hand, remove your shoes so your feet get the benefit of today's exercises, and then let's just start with some nice and easy leg swings across, stretching those tight hips.

[inhales] And add a bent knee.

[exhales] Try not to turn with your leg, try to turn into the hip.

And then add some arms, nice and easy.

[inhales] Just let momentum [exhales] stretch you out.

And then we'll stay in place, lifting those arms with a big inhale, [inhales] and rotate.

[exhales] At the back, big inhale.

[inhales and exhales] And see if you can get just a little more movement.

Big inhale [inhales] and exhale.

[exhales] One more time.

Don't forget to lift up that heel so you don't tweak your knees.

And remember, anything that causes you any kind of negative pain or knife pain, you don't want to do, stop shy of those things so your body doesn't associate pain with these workouts.

All right, let's turn to the side, and I'd like you to have one leg back, push your hips forward, lift.

[inhales and exhales] and enjoy that stretch all the way down through your hip flexors.

And then sweep it down.

[exhales] Back up, inhale.

[inhales] Exhale, [exhales] pressing that heel down, squeeze your butt, [exhales] and very good.

Let's go to the other side.

Big arms up.

[inhales] Legs to the back, [exhales] and sweep the arms down.

Lift.

[inhales] Keep it moving, press the heel down, hips forward.

Lift through the chest.

And let's sweep down one more time.

Releasing the tension in that low back, come to the front.

[inhales and exhales] Very good.

And let's just cross down towards the knee and up, [inhales] other side.

[exhales] If it's early in the morning for you and you're still a little stiff, do a few of these reps just to ease into it, matching your breathing.

[exhales and inhales] Very good, and hands on the hips, do some nice circles, taking your time.

And it's hip circles, it's not shoulder circles.

So just think about moving within your range of motion in your hips.

Okay, nice and slow.

Good, tuck that tailbone.

While you're at it, let your head drop, soft knees, elbows falling forward.

[inhales] And then exhale as you do the outfielder stretch.

[exhales] Good.

And shift your hips, drop a shoulder.

Shift your hips the other way and drop a shoulder.

These feel really good.

So I was learning something while I was out in right field.

All right.

'Cause I certainly didn't know how to be a good outfielder.

Let's lift and rotate, lift and rotate.

All right, let's extend your left leg if you're mirroring me, rotate.

Rotate.

[inhales] And then we'll lift the hip and drop the hip.

Some of you might need to do this standing on a stair.

That way the floor is not in the way.

You put one leg on the higher step and let the other leg fall off, [inhales] to stretch this leg.

Good, and lift and lift, taking your time.

And then we'll slide the hand down, grabbing that ankle [inhales] and pull.

[exhales] Pressing that knee down towards the floor.

[inhales and exhales] Wonderful, let's do the other side.

I want you to be nice and balanced, so start by rotating your leg right in the hip socket, taking your time, turning it in as far as you can, and out.

You can even put your heel on the floor to help you get a little bit more movement.

All right, into the hip lifts, taking your time, sinking down into the standing hip.

Up into a hydrant, take your time with these.

[inhales and exhales] Usually I crack whenever I do these hydrants, and it just feels so good.

Grabbing your pant leg or your ankle, doing this wonderful quadriceps stretch again.

All right, and release it gently into a nice, wide stance.

Arms nice and big, and let's just extend left and right, focusing on just your torso, the legs aren't doing anything.

This is a stretch right from your ribs and your hips.

Very good, widening those legs a little more, let's get that knee right up over the ankle.

[inhales] Ready?

And exhale.

[exhales] Now, imagine there's a wall in front of your knee and you can't let it go anywhere.

It's just a stretch through your groin area, your sides, your arm.

And then let's rotate those arms, and even deeper, [exhales] lengthening through the shoulder, the ribs.

Make a nice pretty line from your fingertips to your heel.

Very good, and over to the other side.

So arms start wide, legs are wide.

Bend that knee until it's only over your ankle.

[inhales] Extend.

[exhales] Feel the leg stretch.

Inhale.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] Get a little deeper.

Nice pretty lines, lifting that arm, reaching forward with the front arm, back with the back.

[exhales] Warming up that leg.

And one more.

[inhales] Exhale, nice pretty lines again.

[exhales] And lift.

All right, let's bring those legs together, coming up out of that, and let's use the chair for these lovely, lovely next stretches.

These are some of my favorite ones.

So, sit back, all right.

Make some nice room between your body and the chair.

Let's take your left hand and lift it up over the right.

[inhales] Inhale, exhale, sit it back.

[exhales] Find that left elbow and lift.

Left hip twists away.

You can even look up under your arm and enjoy this stretch, letting your weight hang off the back of that chair.

Very good.

We'll come out of that.

[inhales] Big inhale, exhale.

[exhales] And switching hands and sitting back, [exhales] right elbow lifts, right hip twists away.

Look up under that arm.

This is just such a wonderful deep stretch, especially for those of you that have sore low backs.

[inhales] And then we come out of that, untangle the hands.

Okay, and let's just do a little cat and cow.

[exhales] Nice modified cat-cow.

These chairs are just such a wonderful tool to stretch and to improve upon and modify stretches so that they work for you.

Okay, so let's just alternate these heels, lift one and then the other.

We want to make sure we get your whole body, top to bottom.

Lift, and lift.

A little closer together, lift and lift.

And then we'll rock those toes.

This is a really good example why you need to have your shoes off for freedom of movement for your feet, right down to your toes.

Let's do the other side, rock it forward and back.

All right, and we're going to sit straight down, our behind's sitting straight down towards our heels, stretching the calves.

[inhales and exhales] Come up partway, inhale.

[inhales] And then we'll exhale.

[exhales] Sitting it down.

Hamstrings stretch is coming up next.

So as we come up, I want you to really reach back with that left leg, extend your right.

This feels so good, what a great way to wake up in the morning.

Sit back with that right leg and stretch.

[exhales] Or to take a break partway through your day.

All right, let's have nice, wide arms up [inhales] and then we'll just roll down like a swan dive down to the ground.

[exhales] Head rolls down.

Stomach in, chin rolling up last.

And two big arms, nice and wide.

[inhales] Open up that chest, and I'd like you to look toward your left.

Another little circle, but a big turn of the neck the other way.

Big pull, and an inhale.

[inhales] Big pull.

[exhales] All right, swing that arm back.

One more.

[inhales and exhales] Go ahead and look to your right, other arm lift, and lift.

Looking in the opposite direction, enjoying these last few stretches.

[inhales and exhales] I hope you feel better and ready for your day.

Starting out each day with me is the best way to remain consistent and experience great results.

So please join me here again soon at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit, so you can remain loose, strong, and keep doing all the things you love, because life is movement.